In optical disc technologies, data can be read out from a rotating optical disc by irradiating the disc with a relatively weak light beam with a constant intensity, and detecting the light that has been modulated by, and reflected from, the optical disc.
On a read-only optical disc, information is already stored as pits that are arranged spirally during the manufacturing process of the optical disc. On the other hand, on a rewritable optical disc, a recording material film, from/on which data can be read and written optically, is deposited by evaporation process, for example, on the surface of a substrate on which tracks with spiral lands or grooves are arranged. In writing data on a rewritable optical disc, data is written there by irradiating the optical disc with a light beam, of which the optical power has been changed according to the data to be written, and locally changing the property of the recording material film.
It should be noted that the depth of the pits, the depth of the tracks and the thickness of the recording material film are smaller than the material thickness of the optical disc. For that reason, those portions of the optical disc, where data is stored, define a two-dimensional plane, which is sometimes called a “storage plane” or an “information plane”. However, considering that such a storage plane actually has a physical dimension in the depth direction, too, the term “storage plane (information plane)” will be replaced herein by another term “information layer”. Every optical disc has at least one such information layer. Optionally, a single information layer may actually include a plurality of layers such as a phase-change material layer and a reflective layer.
To read data that is stored on an optical disc or to write data on a rewritable optical disc, the light beam always needs to maintain a predetermined converging state on a target track on an information layer. For that purpose, a “focus control” and a “tracking control” are required. The “focus control” means controlling the position of an objective lens perpendicularly to the information layer (which direction will be referred to herein as a “substrate depth direction”) such that the focus position (or focal point) of the light beam is always located on the information layer. On the other hand, the “tracking control” means controlling the position of the objective lens along the radius of a given optical disc (which direction will be referred to herein as a “disc radial direction”) such that the light beam spot is always located right on a target track.
To get the focus control and tracking control done, a focus error or a tracking error needs to be detected based on the light reflected from an optical disc and the location of the light beam spot needs to be adjusted so as to minimize the error. The magnitudes of the focus error and the tracking error are respectively represented by a “focus error (FE) signal” and a “tracking error (TE) signal” that are generated based on the light reflected from the optical disc.
Once a fingerprint is left on the surface of an optical disc, the intensity of the reflected light will decrease when the light beam passes through that fingerprint. As a result, the intensity distribution of the light beam will decrease non-uniformly, thus causing a disturbance in the TE signal and producing tracking abnormality. Consequently, some type of tracking failure such as a track jump happens. Various techniques have been proposed so far to avoid such tracking failures. For example, according to Patent Document No. 1, the decrease in the intensity of the reflected light is detected on a regular basis, and if any defect, including the presence of a fingerprint, has been detected, the user is notified of that, thereby avoiding predictable write failures. Meanwhile, if the user permits such a soiled disc, a read/write operation will be performed on it just as instructed by him or her. Furthermore, by providing means for avoiding a repetitive notification, an opportunity to perform a read/write operation just as planned can be guaranteed while avoiding write failures to be caused by the dirt on the disc.                Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-179136        